God Not Willing Any Should Perish

¹ The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² How long, LORD, must I call for help

and You do not listen,

or cry out to You about violence

and You do not save?

³ Why do You force me to look at injustice?

Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?

Oppression and violence are right in front of me.

Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.

⁴ This is why the law is ineffective

and justice never emerges.

For the wicked restrict the righteous;

therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Have you ever felt like Habakkuk? Injustice on every side; the wicked running roughshod over the rights of the poor and innocent; and their was nothing you could do about it but pray—and God wasn’t listening!

Read verses 5-11 and you see God’s answer. He was doing something, just nothing that Habakkuk could see; at least, not yet.

Maybe God is always listening, and every prayer that is born in the heart of God is being answered even as we pray—just not in ways that we can see.

Habakkuk prays again:

¹² Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God?

My Holy One, You will not die.

LORD, You appointed them to execute judgment;

‹my› Rock, You destined them to punish ‹us›.

¹³ ‹Your› eyes are too pure to look on evil,

and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?

Why are You silent

while one who is wicked swallows up

one who is more righteous than himself?

What is God doing? I’m not smart enough to know. But I do know this from the New Testament: God was giving them time to repent. He did not want to do what He was going to do. Had they repented He would have held back the judgment.

God is always patient with us. He only sends the Chaldean when there is no other choice. His purpose is to be produce holiness of character in us. He will use whatever means are necessary to accomplish His intention.

May we yield to Him to who is the God of eternity.